


Tell It To My Heart

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Morning After, Relationship Discussions, Stuck in Traffic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 09:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13520991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: While on a trip to London for a conference, Hardy and Miller cross the line.  Stuck in traffic on the way home, they are forced to have a conversation about it.Naturally, they both are mature and straightforward about it.(Not.)





	Tell It To My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This was prompted on Tumblr by a nice nonny.
> 
> Thanks friend!

“Are we going to talk about it?”  Ellie glanced over at her partner, who was sitting in the passenger seat and glaring out the windshield at the solid wall of traffic in front of them.

“Talk about what?” he asked, peering through the sheets of rain pounding the car.

“Hardy.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Hardy deflected, pulling out his mobile to check the traffic report.  She didn’t respond, simply staring at him as he glared at the device.

They sat in silence, Ellie patiently waiting him out as she had long since learned to do.

“What’s the weather and traffic say?” she finally asked when he put his mobile away.

“Build an ark,” he deadpanned, and her lips twitched.  “No, the rain should clear in the next couple hours.  Major crash about, oh, three miles ahead, just before the next exit.  Cleanup crews are on site, but it’ll still be a while.”

“So, we’re stuck,” Ellie verified, and he let out a long suffering sigh.

“Aye.”

“Giving us plenty of time to talk.”

Hardy groaned, rubbing both palms over his face before shifting to look at her.  “Why?  We’re both adults.  It was neither illegal nor against regulations.  Can’t we just let it be?  Isn’t there a saying, ‘what happens wherever, blah blah blah’?”

“One, it’s ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’, two we weren’t _in_ Vegas, and three – we work together!”

He groaned again.  “Yes, we work together.  Obviously you see it as a mistake, and I can see why you’d be worried as I’m your supervisor.  I’m saying we can forget it, move on with our lives, and no one ever has to know.  End of conversation.”

“End of- Hardy!  We.  Had.  SEX!”  She hadn’t intended to yell, but his typical avoidance bullshit was grating on her already frayed last nerve and she snapped.

Hardy stared at her, eyes wide as he protested flatly, “I know, Miller, I was there.  You don’t have to shout.”

Ellie sighed, the fight draining out of her.  “Look – we can rationalize this away and forget all about it.  That’s fine.  I just think we should discuss it fully once before that.”

“If that’s what you want,” he replied stiffly, glaring out the window again.

“Why don’t you start?  Tell me what you think,” she offered, not surprised when he scoffed derisively.

“I think we sit in the car any longer and I’ll start walking home.”

“Oh, come on.”

Hardy gave a long exhale.  “Miller, please.  I promise to never bring it up or make reference or whatever else you want me to swear to.  Let’s just drop it, as you so clearly want.”

“Don’t be so embarrassed,” she said soothingly.  “This sort of thing happens, you know.  People get drunk and sleep with someone they shouldn’t all the time.  Not even you are above that.”

She’d been going for comforting, but apparently that had been the wrong thing to say as Hardy snapped.

“You know what?  I’m going for a walk, check out the crash site.  I’ll be back.”  Releasing the seat belt, he opened the door and climbed out of the car without a thought for the rain.

Staring after him as he disappeared up the lanes of stopped cars, she couldn’t believe the last thirty seconds.  Hardy’d pulled some rather idiotic stunts in the time she’d known him, but this took the cake. 

Making an impulsive decision, she turned off the car and grabbed her keys and the umbrella from the back seat before hurrying off after her partner.

“Hardy, wait!”

-

Marching up the line of cars in the direction of the accident, Hardy fumed as he replayed the whole weekend in his mind.

They’d been selected to come to a three-day conference in London to present on a drug ring they’d busted six months prior.  Sticking together the first two days as a team, they’d spent every waking second in each other’s presence – including the social the second evening.  Happy hour turned to a pub crawl, culminating in what he’d _thought_ was- well, apparently not what she had.

“Alec Hardy!” she shouted behind him, but he ignored her to continue on, heedless of the rain pelting him though he knew he’d regret it the next day.

“Hardy!”  She didn’t seem to get the hint and he sped up, hoping his longer legs would carry him away from her.

“Alec!”  At the sound of his first name he stopped, and she hurried around him to stand almost nose to nose, automatically holding the umbrella over both of their heads.  “What’s going on?”

“I told you I was going to check the scene,” he told her stiffly, staring over her head.

“No, back in the car.  What happened?”

“I decided to check the scene, see what was taking so long.”  Hardy was a master at obfuscation, but unfortunately his partner could match him toe to toe.

“Hardy- Alec.  Please.”

He growled low in his throat, finally gazing down at her.  “I thought- it doesn’t matter what I thought.  I agreed to forget it as you requested, and swear it won’t affect your job.  Can I finish my walk now?”

“No,” Ellie refused, bringing one hand up to rest on his chest.  “You completely lost it when I implied you weren’t a saint.  If I offended you I’m sorry, though I’m not quite sure what was so bad about it.  You’re only human, mistakes are allowed.”

She could see his expression turn sarcastic, and braced herself as he opened his mouth.  “Well done, Miller, you’ve cracked the case.  Gold star.  Now go away.”

He stepped around her, continuing his walk in the downpour.

She wouldn’t be Miller if she just accepted that at face value, though, and within moments she had jogged around him to stop him in his tracks once again, resuming her position in front of him.

“I’m obviously upsetting you, though I can’t for the life of me think why.  So explain it.”

Hardy ran his hand through his hair and gave a quiet groan.  “Miller, I have my reasons and I ask you to respect them.”

“No.”

“No?” he repeated, eyebrows shooting up.  “Really?”

“Really.  You are _literally_ the only person in my life I can trust to be straight with me, to not pull punches or hide.  Please don’t take that away from me.”

“You’re right,” he agreed after a moment.  “In this case, I need you to take that trust and believe me when I say it’s better you don’t know.”

“And you’re the only person I would ever consider trusting that way.  But that’s not enough – not when it comes to this.  Spill.”

“I wasn’t drunk,” he admitted on an exhale.  “I didn’t think you were either – you passed every sobriety test I tried with you.  Obviously I was wrong or didn’t understand and for that, you _must_ know I’m incredibly sorry.  I’d never take advantage of you.  Well, any woman really, but especially not you.”

“Oh,” she blinked up at him.  “Is that all?”

“Is that _all_?” Hardy asked incredulously.

“I was tipsy, sure, but I absolutely consented then and don’t retract that now.  Are we good then?  Was that the problem?”  Miller look so innocent, so sure, that he couldn’t help the bitter laugh that sprung forth.

“Good to know, but that only makes it worse.”

He walked away again, and only made it a dozen car lengths before she caught up to him again.

“Will you just tell me?!”

“Go back to the car, Miller, it’s freezing out here.”  He never looked at her, just continuing on down the road past car after car.

“ _You_ should go back to the car, you’ll catch your death in this!  And I sure as hell don’t want to be the one explaining to Daisy what happened,” she argued, just barely keeping pace with him.

“It’s on my head then.  Just do it.”

His irritation irritated her, and she grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop.  “Hardy!”

“What do you want me to say, hm?  What will make you leave me alone?”  He glared down at her resentfully.

“The truth.  That’s all.  Make me understand.”  She glared right back, and he clenched his jaw.

“You want the truth?  Fine.  I thought it was the start of something, but I obviously misunderstood what it meant to you.  That’s it.”

He made to stalk off once more, but she grabbed his arm and held him tight.

“Are you saying it meant something to you?  What?  Why?”  Ellie’s brain worked overtime, trying to understand.

“Because I love you.”  Hardy said it so quietly, so calmly, she almost thought she’d imagined it.

“What?”

“I love you.  Have done for ages.  I thought- when you kissed me- clearly I read more into it than was there.”  He stared down at her, a sad, resigned look on his face as she struggled to process his words.

“But you’ve never said-” Ellie started to protest, before suddenly seeing every interaction between them over the previous few years in a new light.  “Since when?”

He shrugged, absentmindedly taking the umbrella from her and positioning it over them.

“Is that why you came back?”

“I told you, I wanted Daisy to have the same second chance I did.”

“Broadchurch.”

“Yes, Broadchurch,” he agreed, though his eyeroll suggested something she couldn’t even begin to unpack at the moment.

“Hardy…”

“You’ve made your own feelings perfectly clear.  There’s been an obvious misunderstanding, mostly by me.  Let me walk it off, and everything’ll be fine come Monday.”

“Do you mean it?” she blurted.

“Yes – back to normal by then,” he affirmed, and Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Not what I meant, knob.”

“Ah.”  Hardy sized her up, before nodding sharply.  “Yes.”

“Me too.”

“What?”  He did a double take, staring down at her in surprise.

“I love you too,” she clarified, laughing in disbelief.  “Your reaction yesterday morning – I was just trying to give you an out.”

“I don’t want an out.”  Hardy blinked.  Then he looked around, noticing for the first time how heavy the rain was, and that the people in the cars around them were watching them closely.  “Er, let’s go back to the car.  Maybe we can discuss this further?”

“All right,” Ellie agreed, smiling widely at him.

As they walked back to the car together, she couldn’t help but think their strange, unorthodox relationship might just actually have a chance in hell of working.

Stranger things had happened.


End file.
